It was another one of those weeks where the early games could very easily have sent Scott Hanson into some kind of Redzone-related meltdown. Of course, Scott handled it all like a pro and much better than some of the teams who were acting plain crazy down the stretch!
One game that went right down to the wire was the Kansas City Chiefs and the Carolina Panthers. This was not supposed to be close, but the Panthers tied the game with Chuba Hubbard's touchdown run and two-point conversion with 1:46 remaining. The most crucial part of that sentence was "1:46 remaining."
That was more than enough time for a magician like Patrick Mahomes, who comes alive when the stakes are at their highest. Mahomes quickly moved the Chiefs into field goal range with the key play being a smart 33-yard scramble of his own.
The three-time Super Bowl champion raced down the left sideline and it looked like he was going to duck out of bounds after a 10-yard gain. But, Mahomes knew he had some time outs on his side so he could risk staying inbounds. He turned inside and picked up another 23 yards for a 33-yard scamper to the Carolina 22-yard line.
A few plays later, backup kicker Spencer Schrader drilled the 31-yard field goal to give the Chiefs a 30-27 victory that lifts their record to an AFC-best 10-1 on the season.
I raised this question in our Sky Sports studio on Sunday night… Are the Chiefs to be applauded for winning by one score for the eighth time this season or should they be criticised for letting the three-win Panthers hang around until the very end?
I think winning close games is a skill that should be applauded. So many NFL games go right down to the wire so finding a way to get over the finish line is a major plus. The Chiefs are not perfect, but they are very, very difficult to slay; especially as Mahomes leads them with the kind of end-of-game prowess we saw with other greats in their prime such as Joe Montana and Tom Brady.
As Mahomes told me on a recent visit to Chiefs training camp, every time he produces in those big moments; it raises his confidence levels when the next situation presents itself. So rather than folding each time he is in a pressure situation, Mahomes grows stronger and stronger and has total belief that he is going to get the job done. And, more often than not, he does indeed produce those memorable wins.
A word on the Panthers before I move on. I don't know if Bryce Young is going to be the long-term answer at quarterback or if he will ever be truly worth of the first overall pick spent on him; but I do know this team is playing hard for rookie head coach Dave Canales.
Carolina came into Sunday night as winners of two in a row and while there are no moral victories in the NFL, they can feel proud of the fact that they pushed the defending champions all the way to the end of regulation on Sunday night.
Who's Hot…
Saquon Barkley… Since then-Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson won the award in 2012, the NFL's Most Valuable Player prize has been won by quarterbacks 11 times in a row. It has become a quarterback award, much like the Super Bowl MVP prize. But Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley could be about to change all that. In Philadelphia's 37-20 win over the Los Angeles Rams, Barkley rushed for 255 yards on 26 carries, scoring on runs covering 70 and 72 yards. He added 47 receiving yards for a total of 302 scrimmage yards, powering the Eagles to a seventh win in a row. Barkley has just been the perfect addition for a team that is beginning to resemble a serious Super Bowl contender in the NFC. Barkley has topped 100 rushing yards seven times this season and has gone over 140 and a touchdown in five separate games. He is on pace for 2,151 rushing yards in 2024 which would break a record that has stood the test of time – Eric Dickerson's 2,105 rushing yards for the Los Angeles Rams in 1984. Barkley is a special game-breaker and you could now at least argue there is no quarterback in the game having the same impact on his team. That has to give Saquon a shot at the MVP.
Josh Jacobs… All three high-profile runners who swapped teams in the offseason are having great years. Barkley is lighting it up with the Eagles, Derrick Henry is powering the Baltimore Ravens and Josh Jacobs is a vital piece of the Green Bay Packers' attack. It was Jacobs who led the way in Sunday's 38-10 demolition of the under-manned and low-on-confidence San Francisco 49ers. Jacobs rushed for 106 yards and three touchdowns and very little of it was pretty. He wore the Niners down, regularly turning two yards into eight, four yards into 10. There were very few negative plays and the impact of Jacobs took the pressure off Jordan Love, who didn't throw an interception in a game for the first time this season. That said, Love was still a bit too liberal with the football and did take a few too many chances. But this game was over early in the second half once Jacobs took full effect. The Packers are now 8-3, but that is still only good enough for third place in the NFC North.
The Miami Dolphins… They've not exactly beaten a murderer's row of opponents in the Los Angeles Rams, Las Vegas Raiders and the New England Patriots, but the Dolphins have dragged themselves back into the AFC playoff picture with three straight wins. Sunday's 34-15 demolition of the Patriots was inspired by Tua Tagovailoa, who continues to show what Miami missed when he was sidelined with a concussion. Getting the ball out of his hands rapidly all night long, Tua threw for 317 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions. He was surgical. Since returning to the lineup in Week 8, Tua has completed 76.5 percent of his passes, has thrown 11 touchdowns to just one interception and boasts an outstanding rating of 116.2. Now comes the kind of test Miami and their quarterback have failed all too often in recent years. The Dolphins will leave the winter warmth of South Florida to head to frigid Lambeau Field on Thanksgiving Day to take on a Packers team that have won six of their last seven games. Win that one and I will start to believe that Miami – who have a 5-6 record - can indeed make a late playoff run.
Who's Not…
The San Francisco 49ers… The 49es have a lorry-load of injuries and it has been that way all season. But the loss of quarterback Brock Purdy felt like the straw that broke the camel's back as they put up very little resistance against the Green Bay Packers with Brandon Allen subbing under center. What was alarming about that loss was how dispirited and down-hearted the Niners looked. Their tackling was poor and players who rely on intensity as major facets of their game like linebacker Fred Warner rarely grabbed our attention. It has the look and feel of a lost season in San Francisco, but they have to find a way to stick together and turn it around. More importantly, they need to hang in there while players get healthy; if that is possible. They are a world away from where they would have wanted to be at 5-6, but San Francisco remain just one game out of first place in the NFC West. The message from Kyle Shanahan has to be that it is not over yet, even though things look bleak.
C.J. Stroud… The Houston Texans went into Sunday's game against the lowly Tennessee Titans needing to get their quarterback into a groove. Too bad the game was being played against a defense that has sneakily become one of the best in the league. C.J. Stroud was sacked four times, threw two interceptions and found himself too close to the back of the end zone when conceding a Dan Orlovsky-like safety late in a 32-27 loss. Stroud did lead the Texans into position for a game-tying field goal and I'll have more on that in a moment, but his form is way too up and down at the moment. The Texans have now lost three of their last four in falling to 7-5. I wonder how much sympathy there will be for Stroud around the league. After his rookie season, he was quite outspoken on a number of podcasts; grading the game of Aaron Rodgers and even ranking quarterbacks across the league. Then after a Week 2 win over the Chicago Bears, he was mentoring Caleb Williams as if he had been in the league 10 years longer than the young man who followed him in a season later. Some might suggest Stroud should concentrate on his own game moving forward.
Kickers!… In a year when kickers are nailing 60-yard field goals with a mere swing of the leg, Sunday's dramatic action reminded us that those who occupy this position can still fall foul to the mental pressures at the worst possible times. Take the Houston game, for example. Ka'imi Fairbairn has been one of the league's most reliable kickers in recent seasons, but he missed a simple 28-yarder against the Titans that would have tied the game with just under two minutes to play. Tennessee went on to close out the win. In Washington, things were even more agonising for the hometown Commanders. Dallas led 27-17 with 2:49 remaining, but Jayden Daniels rallied Washington with a field goal drive and then a stunning 86-yard touchdown pass to Terry McLaurin with 12 seconds remaining. Austin Seibert then missed his second extra point of the day. Heartbreak for the Commanders as they fell to a third straight loss.
The Fast Five…
- Cowboys, Commanders, Chaos! That is the kind of ending to a game that can send coaches grey overnight. In the final three minutes and two seconds, there were four touchdowns, a field goal, a two-point conversion and that vital missed extra point. And the Cowboys, who snapped a five-game losing streak, scored twice on kickoff return touchdowns. Sometimes, you just couldn't make up how an NFL Sunday is going to unfold.
- The Detroit Lions rolled to their ninth straight victory on Sunday, becoming the first NFL team to reach 10 wins; shortly followed by the Chiefs. What was so impressive about their 24-6 victory over the Indianapolis Colts was that the Lions never saw Jared Goff throw a touchdown pass. A week after Goff threw four scoring strikes and was perfect against Jacksonville, Detroit did their damage on the ground with Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery. That's the sign of a really good team, finding different ways to win each and every week.
- There was another wild finish at Soldier Field where the Minnesota Vikings beat the Chicago Bears 30-27 in overtime on a 29-yard field goal from John Parker Romo. Minnesota led 27-16 with less than 30 seconds remaining. Chicago scored a touchdown, converted the two-pointer, recovered an onside kick and landed a Cairo Santos field goal from 48 yards as time expired. But Chicago went three and out in overtime and the Vikings took another game that can only be reported, because it certainly cannot be explained!
- Tampa Bay ended their four-game losing streak with a dominant 30-7 win over the free-falling New York Giants, who got no spark whatsoever from Tommy DeVito at quarterback. The Bucs did their damage on the ground, rushing for 156 yards and four touchdowns on 32 carries. At 5-6, Tampa Bay remain alive in the NFC South race but Atlanta (6-5) do hold the tiebreaker having swept the Bucs this season.
- Denver swept the Las Vegas Raiders for the first time in a season since 2014 and their 29-19 win keeps them in the final spot in the race to make the AFC playoffs. The 7-5 Broncos got another good showing from rookie quarterback Bo Nix as he threw for 273 yards and twice connected with Courtland Sutton for touchdowns. And Denver continued to be powered by their defense. That unit recorded five sacks, an interception and a fumble recovery and held the Raiders to just one touchdown.
Fact of the Week
The Detroit Lions have won nine straight games for the first time in a season since 1934! They are also off to their best start -10-1 – since that 1934 campaign. This is unlikely to happen this time around, but that 1934 Lions team finished 10-3 and missed the NFL's two-team playoffs!
Final Thought…
I want to end by going back to the first game of Week 12 – the Browns' 24-19 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers in a Snow Globe contest in Cleveland. First of all, who doesn't love a snow game? It brings out the little kid in all of us and it certainly brought out the youthful joy that Cleveland quarterback Jameis Winston always seems to play with. He put his body on the line in launching into the end zone for an iconic second half touchdown run and he made several big throws – albeit it off the back of some bad ones – to lead Cleveland to Nick Chubb's game-deciding scoring run with 57 seconds remaining. After the game, Winston was running around like an excited child and even launched into a Snow Angel with the cast of Thursday Night Football on Amazon – Ryan Fitzpatrick, Andrew Whitworth and Richard Sherman. It was a lovely reminder that sometimes the players can revert back to those childhood years when football was just a game played for fun!
